


The Longest Night

by Ononymous



Series: Christmas 2017 Stories and Requests [9]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 08:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13232346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Asriel and Frisk are determined to stay up and see a visitor on a cold winter night. It sounds impossible, but if anyone can do it, the Prince of this World's Future and the Human Child can!





	The Longest Night

**Author's Note:**

> Original Request: Asriel and Frisk try to stay up and see Santa

"Children, it is bed time!"

Asriel and Frisk didn't object. It was almost suspicious that they didn't, but it had been a long day and Toriel was glad not to get any pushback.

"Okay, Mom, goodnight!"

The two scurried upstairs and closed their bedroom door.

"Right," whispered Asriel, "Operation Interception is a go!"

Frisk nodded, filled with determination. "If I've worked it out correctly, he should be here in a few hours."

"I hope so. So, what should we do to fill the time?"

"Remember, nothing noisy, so no TV or music. Reading would be best, but the torch might give us away. So I think the board game is our best bet to start with. Just be careful with the dice."

It was a well reasoned strategy in theory, but in practice ran into difficulty. MTT™ Jetpacks and Trapdoors could only entertain for so long before both of them realised it was literally random chance who won, so instead they tried that board game Alphys got them as a birthday present.

"...so by occupying the crystal caverns I get two quartz, right?"

"I think so, but then I draw a resource card. And then I think I can develop the hidden village."

"Nice try, Frisk, but I use my conservation policy stockpile to stop you!"

"No fair! Wait, you can only do that if your excessive exploitation of woodland provokes an agrarian movement."

"Really?" Asriel grunted as he consulted the heavy instruction manual. "Dang it, you're right. This game is complicated."

"Yeah, I'm not convinced Undyne enjoys it as much as Alphys claimed." The children would never learn that right at that moment Undyne's heart was racing as she drew the annex card she needed to move into the center of the board and win. "Maybe we can do something else. Like talk about stuff if we're quiet?"

"I guess. So what did you get up to today?"

"We hung out together all day, and helped Mom with some baking."

"Oh yeah. So, uh, what did you think of that homework we got? Too hard?"

"Well memorizing how to spell them was tricky, especially 'obsolescence', but I'm pleased with the sentences I wrote."

"Spelling them was easy, I already saw those words already!"

"When? Oh... was it when you were..."

"Yeah," he fiddled with his ear a little, "as Flowey. But it was useful!"

"Okay then, what was your sentence?"

"'Mike put the obsolescence next to the coffee table.'"

"Huh? That's not what obsolescence means."

"It's not?"

"I thought you read every book in the Underground."

"I did! I could recite them all by heart! But, uh, I couldn't find out what some words mean. Usually the old Royal Records in Dad's house."

"Well if you turn that in you're gonna be in trouble. I guess I know what we're doing next."

For the next half hour, Asriel's vocabulary homework was rebuilt from the ground up. His otherwise untouched dictionary actually got some use.

"'... and the obsolescence of such attitudes would render societal cohesion dangerously frayed.'"

"That's a much better sentence, Asriel. Though it's more of a paragraph."

"I can't help it, I think of a moment in a story and I have to justify it. It wouldn't make sense on its own."

"Yeah, I guess..." Frisk checked their watch, "well that killed a lot of time. He must be on his way now."

"Yeah! I can't wait to... wait to... uuuuaaaaaaahhhhhhhh..." Frisk got to see a jaw full of sharp teeth.

"Uh oh, you're starting to flag."

"N-no, it's okay. I have a backup plan." He fumbled under his pillow and took out a Thermos. "I got some coffee. Sans told me he uses this blend as a pick me up."

"Are you sure you should drink that? If it's what Sans uses to get moving it might be a bit strong-"

But as Frisk's concerns were aired, Asriel proceeded to pour out a cup and drain it in one. And then he froze.

"Asriel?"

His green eyes bulged. The pupils dilated, and then continued to consume the rest of the eye, leaving them pitch black save for a golden twinkle of determination at the very center. At the same time black marks spread over the fur on his face and arms. And then he began to float in the center of the room.

" _I am the Absolute God of Hyperdeath! And you shall bow down and worship-_ "

_Boop._

Frisk's finger jammed firmly against Asriel's nose, successfully interrupting the apotheosis. The would-be transcendent one blinked rapidly, before falling lightly to the floor again and shaking his head fiercely. The markings faded, and when Frisk looked into his eyes they were green again.

"Thanks Frisk, I got carried away. What a rush!"

The coffee had done its job. Asriel paced the room briskly for another half hour trying to burn off the caffeine and the promises of glory it brought. Frisk spent the time trying to listen for Toriel's footsteps. Given how light monsters were it was harder than one might think. But at last, as Asriel began to breathe between his muttered sentences again, they thought they heard her bedroom door close.

"Okay, phase two. Grab the comics."

He nodded, equally determined. Frisk had taken care to oil the hinges of their door the previous day, when they were thinking about potential pitfalls for this operation. It paid off, as the two of them were able to successfully extricate themselves to the living room, allowing more leeway with light and noise. As long as they didn't get too loud, Toriel needn't ever learn they were going to see him.

"Hee hee hee!" giggled Asriel, taking care to cover his mouth just in case. "I can't believe Hiro said that to Mew Mew!"

"Neither can Alphys. She thinks the translation she grew up with is better, and this one loses some of the character subtlety. I like the puns in it though."

It wasn't just _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie Recoloured Rewritten Remastered_ they had to read. There was also _Captain Subjuncture and the Definition of Human Rights_ , a grim and gritty deconstruction of conflict between different sapient species written by an esoteric British author after being motivated by an anonymous letter no monster admitted to sending, mainly because Frisk sent it. And in addition to that there was _Downanecdote_ , a surprisingly resonant comedy where a tree broke the fourth wall and talked about the recurring trends of tree-based stories and how people take them for granted, though Frisk personally felt it was a bit muddled about whether the tree was speaking to a passive audience or the author of the story directly. It certainly gave them a lot to think about. Like how they should have paced themselves because now they were out of comics. And stimulation that would not have significant theological implications.

"So what do we... uuuuaaaaaaahhhhhhhh... do now?"

"We just need t-to... oooaaaaaawwwww... hold out a little longer. Quick, I'm thinking of a number between one and a hundred."

"Six?"

"No."

"Fifty two."

"No."

"Sixty four."

"Yes, your turn!"

"Okay, guess what I'm thinking."

"Thirty one."

"Nope."

"Ninety... ninety six..."

"N-nope..."

"...eighty... five..."

"...mmm-mmm..."

"...f'rty s'v'n..."

"..."

_Asriel was launching into his speech about resetting so that they could play together forever. Frisk knew they had to save him, they were determined to! But they had to dodge his attacks first. A series of threes shot from his chaos buster, before a mighty number nine tried to split their soul in two. Then a large one hundred exploded, revealing the ninety nine numbers that preceded it. This part was always hard, and try as they might, forty seven slammed into them._

"Children?"

_"So just... let me **WIN!** " An eight on its side was his last desperate attempt to beat them, when Frisk realised it was infinity..._

"Children!"

A rough jerk shook Frisk awake. In being roused himself, Asriel had accidentally kicked them. Light flooded into the room from the hall.

"Children, someone here wants to see you!"

Both of them felt a little dejected. They hadn't quite made it. Maybe next time. Obeying their mother they shuffled into the hallway. There he was, in a silly red hat, carrying a box of delight for them...

"What's up, little buddies? That'll be twenty four eighty one."

"Children," said Toriel curtly, "would you care to explain why you ordered a pizza to come to this house at eleven o'clock at night?"

"Uh," muttered Asriel, "it was a practice run. Santa comes in a few days, and we wanna make sure we can stay up and see him."

To his great surprise, Asriel's mother seized her mouth. She'd been struck by a case of the giggles.

"You are lucky that is so funny, Asriel Dreemurr. It may have _delivered_ you from being grounded." She took a few notes out of her purse. "Here is thirty. You may keep the change."

"Thanks, lady." He closed the door.

"Now, I shall keep this warm with magic for tomorrow, as you have already had dinner."

Meanwhile the cat quietly pocketed his tip in the anti-tip scanner pocket he'd sewn into his uniform to stop Mettaton skimming his thirty percent, and looked at the large number of deliveries he still had to make. Looks like the kids all put off their practice this year. Hopefully their parents could take a joke like she did.

**Author's Note:**

> Pastebin Version: https://pastebin.com/g8PPQBv0
> 
> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
